Crumlin Viaduct

Crumlin Viaduct
County Antrim
Crumlin Viaduct
Location
Location
Grid reference:	J15477645
Location:	54°37’24"N, 6°12’46"W
Structure
History
Information

The Crumlin Viaduct is a railway bridge in Crumlin, County Antrim. It has the distinction of being the only place in the British Isles where a train, aeroplane, car, and boat can theoretically cross paths, since uniquely it is a railway bridge straddling a road bridge across a river, with Belfast International Airport a mile to the north.

History

The railway line through Crumlin opened in 1871, crossing the Crumlin River by means of a simple lattice girder bridge. This was replaced in 1915 with the current structure, a Pratt truss. The original was reused at Adelaide railway station in Belfast.

The current viaduct was designed and built by James Findlay & Co. of Motherwell, Lanarkshire.

Passenger traffic ceased in 1960.

The bridge was reinforced in the early 1970s in order to prepare for the reintroduction of passenger traffic, in 1974. It then carried trains between Londonderry, Antrim, Lisburn and Belfast until 2003, when the passenger service ceased once again.

Today

The viaduct, along with the rest of the Lisburn - Antrim line, has lain mothballed since 2003, though both are maintained to an operational level and used for engineering trains, driver training, and diversionary passenger services when the line between Belfast and Antrim via Whiteabbey is closed. The possibility of the line’s being brought back into regular use, and thius the viaduct with it, for a circular Belfast - Antrim - Lisburn passenger service has been considered for some years.

Popular culture

The viaduct appeared in the BBC series 'Walk The Line' in 2015.